


The Cat, The Witch, and the Crow

by missobsessed22, NKNovak



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Castiel is also a familiar and his animal form in a black crow, Crowley is a witch, Gabriel is a familiar and his animal form is a golden bengal cat, Ghost Hunting, Ghosts/Spirits, sam and dean are hunters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 06:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17678390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missobsessed22/pseuds/missobsessed22, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NKNovak/pseuds/NKNovak
Summary: Sam finds a golden Bengal cat on his brother’s car and nothing from his brother’s allergies to evil witches is going to stop Sam from keeping his kitten.Due to the lack of cannon lore regarding familiars and the coven, I took a lot of it into my own hands, had fun with it.





	1. Chapter 1

Sam always wanted a dog and was never a cat person but when he saw the gold Bengal cat sleeping on the sunlit hood of his brother’s car, he felt like he should pet it, so he did. The cat woke when Sam pet it, lifting its head and looking up at Sam with his big golden eyes. The cat sat up and meow at Sam. Sam noticed to two things about the cat, it was shorter than he had expected, he thought a Bengal cat would be a little bit bigger, he also noticed and collar. “Gabriel” Sam read aloud, there was no additional information. “Where did you come from, Gabriel?”  
The cat, Gabriel, just rubbed the top of his head against Sam’s hand as if to say pet me. Sam smiled, as he pet the cat, he felt a small bond start to grow. Maybe he should take him in, watch after him, and put up flyers to help it find its home? Yes. That’s what he would do, or he could at least try. Sam gently picked up the cat and continued to pet it as he brought it inside. But that was a mistake.  
“Sam! You know I’m a-” Dean was cut by a sneeze “allergic to cats!”  
“I found this cat sleeping on your car, Dean, and it seemed to befriend me really easily, I think we should take care of it if we throw it out onto the streets it could easily befriend someone who would hurt the little thing.” Sam defended his decision of bringing the kitten into the motel room.  
Dean sneezed again and grabbed his keys. “Then we’ll drop it off at the pound on our way to get breakfast”  
“No! They’ll kill this little thing! I have to keep it”  
“We are hunters! How are we supposed to take care of a cat?!”  
“I’ll find a way”  
“Fine. But it stays in the motel until we leave!”  
“Okay”  
Sam let the cat down on the bed. “I’ll be back.” He scratched the cat behind the ears and left. Sam and Dean had just stopped in this town on the way back to the bunker because both brothers were tired, and the bunker was hours away by car. They didn’t think there was a case here, not until they found they’re motel room door unlocked after breakfast. Both brothers took out their guns and burst into the room, startling the cat who was napping on the bed. Dean checked the entire room which basically just the beds and a small bathroom in the back. Nothing was taken either because everything was in the trunk of the Impala. Unfortunately for Dean not even the cat was taken.  
“Uh, Dean, look at this” Sam said holding up a newspaper, a newspaper that wasn’t there before.  
Dean took the newspaper. It was a local paper and there was a front-page story circled in red pen. Apparently, a museum curator spontaneously combusted at the grand opening of the local occult museum. “Occult museum? That’s a thing?”  
“Dean, that’s what caught your eye? A guy spontaneously combusted! Maybe there is a case here after all, maybe a trickster or a witch or something?”  
“The paper left here kind of looks like a trap to me”  
“Well, we should check it out at the very least because there is something here”  
“Fine” Dean said. He scanned the paper. “It says he was taken to the hospital about a 15-minute drive. We’ll suit up and check the coroner’s report first. Then we’ll check the museum” Dean replied.  
“That sounds good. Let me just feed the kitten and we can go”  
Dean sneezed yet again. He did not like this cat. “I’m going out to the car. Don’t touch the cat too much, I don’t want to be sneezing all over the coroner”  
“Okay” Sam said. He got some leftovers and placed them in front of Gabriel before following his brother.

When meeting the coroner Sam and Dean, or Agents Plant and Page, were told that even though the epidermis, the top layer was skin, was charred the dermis remained unharmed, which was unheard of when dealing with third-degree burns. The organs also didn’t face much damage, however, some of the organs were missing from the body, just gone.

The museum didn’t give them much information. On the security tapes before the combustion, no one at the museum looked or did anything out of the ordinary. Dean studied everyone. The seemingly uninterested kid and very interested parent, the two teens that were making out in the back of the museum, the one student who looked the be taking notes and pictures for a project, the woman the curator was hitting on, and the couple trying to talk to the curator about an exhibit.  
“So, someone there must have lit this guy up as a cover for using magic to take his organs,” Dean said looking at the footage again.  
“Yeah but who? Which of these people did it?” Sam asked, looking just as closely at the people they were studying, trying to figure it out.  
“We should look these people up and interview them, ask them if they saw anything odd, cause we’re getting nothing by looking at this”  
“You’re right. Let’s go find them”

Sam and Dean set out to find everyone in the video, it took two days to get to all of them (Dean armed himself with Zyrtec and kept the cat in the closet with food, water, and litter during the night). The result of the interviews wasn’t great. The mother, Jody, didn’t see anything, neither did her daughter, Claire, but Claire wasn’t going near another museum ever again. The teens, Charlie (although Sam and Dean were pretty sure that was a fake name) and her girlfriend who refused to talk were too busy making out to notice anything out of the ordinary. The other teen, the one who seemed to be there for a project, Becky, was too busy hitting on Sam to mention anything she might have seen or heard. However, the woman who was being hit on by the curator, Lisa, was able to point Sam and Dean towards the last two men they hadn’t got around to interviewing yet. They found the last guy's house and knocked on his door. Apparently, his name was Crowley McLeod.


	2. Chapter 2

“Are your Crowley McLeod?” Sam asked the man who opened the door, they drove over to what they had believed to be his house.  
“Yes. Can I help you two gentlemen?” The man, Crowley, answered.  
“Yes. We’re Agents Plant and Paige, FBI” Dean said. “We would like to talk to you about the incident at the museum two days ago”  
“That was absolutely tragic what happened. If you wouldn’t mind could we talk here on the porch? My partner is taking a nap, first sleep he’s gotten since the incident, I’d rather not bother him”  
“We would actually like to speak to him too” Dean said.  
“Well you’ll have to come back another time. He’s asleep and I absolutely will not wake him up” Crowley took a step forward and close the door behind himself.  
“Fine. Can you tell us if you saw or heard anything odd at the museum that day? Maybe right before or after the spontaneous combustion of the curator?” Sam asked.  
“. . . I did hear a slight hissing sound for a moment before he combusted before our eyes, but other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary”  
“A hissing sound?”  
“Yes, a hissing sound. You know the sound a hose makes when it’s leaking? That, but a little quieter”  
Dean and Sam exchanged a quick look. “Like a gas leak?” Sam asked.  
“Well, it could have been. I’m not sure, but that’s the most likely answer I could think of”  
“Well, thank you” Sam said.  
“Now, we still want to speak to yo-” Crowley opened and closed the door in Dean’s face.  
The brothers walked back to the car. “I don’t trust that guy” Dean said.  
“I don’t either. I mean, gas leak? We’re going to have to come back later to find out more” Sam agreed before getting into the car.

Back the motel, Dean had taken off his jacket and tossed it on the bed. Gabriel, the cat who was relaxing on the bed, immediately went to stick his head in a pocket searching it. “Get out of there” Dean said angrily. However, when Gabriel pulled his head back out he was holding something in his mouth. Sam took it. “Hex bag” He said tossing it to Dean. “Crowley probably used it to put some spell on us”  
“I’m gonna kill this bastard. Get changed, we’re gonna go kill this witch bitch” Dean said grabbing his normal garb to change into and out of the suit.  
“You did such a good job, Gabriel. Good kitty” Sam said, scratching behind its ear. Gabriel really seemed to like it when Sam did that. “How did you know there was a hex bag in there?” That was weird but Sam didn’t have time to worry about that, they had to get Crowley and whoever he was with. 

Unfortunately, by the time the Winchester’s got there Crowley was long gone.  
“Son of a bitch! He could be anywhere right now!” Dean shouted.  
“Look, Dean, he’s bound to come back. Nobody leaves a house with no intention of coming back. We just have to stake it out”  
“We have no idea how long it will take for him to come back, if he even does come back!”  
“Well we have no other choices here, Dean! We can’t track him down because he left behind no way to find him!”  
“I don’t care we’ll find some way to hunt that witch down!” Dean said. He walked over and opened the fridge, it was empty.  
Sam sighed and rolled his eyes, of course Dean would be checking the fridge, still he a question to ask, “And how do you propose we do that?”  
“I have an idea” A voice from behind them said. They both turned around, both had their guns out and on the short blonde behind them. “Relax, Dean. It’s just me, it’s Gabriel”  
“What are you talking about? Who the hell is Gabriel?” Sam asked, also pointing a gun.  
“Aww. Sammy, you don’t recognize me, that’s hurts”  
“What are you-” Sam stopped when he saw the collar fastened around Gabriel’s neck. Gabriel. Sam lowered his gun. “Dean put the gun down”  
“What? Why?” Dean asked.  
“It’s my cat”  
“Your- you mean the cat you found” Dean replied before turning back to Gabriel. “So, you’re one of those half human, half animal things?”  
“I’m a familiar, yes”  
Dean didn’t lower his gun, he sneezed allergic to Gabriel in all his forms. “How do we know you’re not working with Crowley? You could be his familiar.”  
“I’m not.” Gabriel replied “I left the paper on the desk and circled the article that led you to him and I found the hex bag he planted on you. That evidence enough for you? I want you guys to gank him too!”  
Dean lowered his gun, not like familiars were that dangerous anyway.  
“I thought familiars liked witches?” Sam asked.  
“No. Familiar’s are only close with the witch they are bonded with”  
“So why do you have a vendetta against Crowley?”  
“Can’t I just want him to be killed because I’m a good familiar who wants him to stop killing innocents?”  
“No” Dean answered quickly.  
“Look, it doesn’t matter if I have my own motives, you two are hunters and you kill witches like Crowley so do your job!”  
“Do you know how to find him?” Sam asked  
“Well, I myself can’t but you can, Sam, through witchcraft”  
“Not fucking happening” Dean said, but Gabriel expected this, he knew a little about the Winchesters and this was pretty much on brand for these brothers.  
“It’s the only way. Sam has a gift, he can learn it quick and get to Crowley!”  
“My brother is not starting with witchcraft, end of story!”  
“How about you give Sam the choice, Dean?” Gabriel turned to Sam. “So, Sam, want to track down Crowley?”  
Sam looked at Dean and then back at Gabriel. “If it’s our only means of tracking him down and killing him I’ll do it”  
Gabriel smiled.  
“No, you won’t” Dean said.  
Gabriel ignored Deans protests and walked towards Sam. “I can help you. Gather what we need for the tracking spell, it shouldn’t take long for you to pick it up, you have a gift”  
“Alright, whatever we need to get this done quicker” Sam said, also ignoring Dean.

Sam and Gabriel were in the motel room alone. Dean went to the library to check out some books and use the free Wi-Fi to find out if there was any other way to find a witch before Sam got in too deep with Gabriel.  
“Okay” Gabriel waved a hand over the bed and a big, old looking book appeared. That and shifting into a cat were the only forms of magic available to him. “This book belonged to my former witch.” Gabriel said picking up the book delicately “it’s very old so be careful with it. It has all the spells, curses, and potions she had learned throughout her life. Almost anything we’ll ever need will be in there including the tracking spell.”  
Sam looked though the book, all the spells were in Latin, which was good he knew Latin. However, and ingredients list or note in the margin of spells were in a different language, Sam wasn’t positive, but it looked like Hindi, it must have the native language of Gabriel’s first witch. As far as the current spell, Sam could read it, but Gabriel told what the notes meant and what the ingredients they needed were. “Ready?” Gabriel asked when they had everything they needed.  
“I think I am” Sam said, nodding. He started going through the spell and did everything he was supposed to and finally dropped in the last ingredient and finished the incantation and it took a moment, but Gabriel took effect where he saw Sam standing, unmoving, eyes unblinking. He knew what was happening. He was seeing past events through Crowley’s eyes, seeing a sped-up version of everything Crowley saw from the moment he left his house to where he was now. It took a few minutes before Sam snapped out of it blinking. Sam immediately called Dean, telling him he knew where Crowley was, and they had to go now. When Sam was off the phone Gabriel asked him. “You saw someone with Crowley and they seemed okay, right?”  
“Yeah, Crowley was with this what I’m guessing must be his boyfriend that he was hiding from us”  
“Yeah, must be.” Gabriel said putting everything that was used for the spell and taking the book back, making it vanish.  
“Are you okay?” Sam asked, Gabriel looked a little worried, like he had something on his mind, more than just catching Crowley.  
“Hmm. I’m fine, Sam.”  
“Okay. Just know you can talk to me if you need to”  
“Yeah, I know, your kinda my witch now”  
“. . . Wait what?” Sam asked.  
“Well, we’re bonded”  
“You never told me that was going to be a thing, Gabriel!”  
“I may have left out that detail, but you want to catch Crowley, don’t you?”  
“Yes, I do, but you still should have told me I’d be bonding myself to you!”  
“Well, it’s done now”  
There a was honk outside, Dean was here. “We’ll talk about this later, we have a witch to kill”


	3. Chapter 3

When in the Impala Sam directed Dean on where to go. Sam led them to a motel a few towns over, they got out of the car and circled the motel, no sign of Crowley, that was until, they were walking down a hall of motel room doors and they heard a crash from inside one of the rooms. Sam followed by Gabriel and Dean ran to the room, the door opened easily. Crowley ran past them just as they entered but they also had to deal with what was happening inside the room, Crowley’s partner was grappling and fighting with someone.  
“You two go get Crowley” Gabriel said. “I’ll deal with this”  
The Winchesters didn’t argue, they didn’t have time to argue, they needed to kill the witch before he got away, good thing Dean had a gun full of witch killing bullets on him. He ran down the street Dean following him and Sam going around hoping to cut him off when he turned and that’s exactly what happened, he turned down an ally hopping to get away, but Sam appeared on the other side on the ally, he turned around and saw Dean. He knew there was no way out of this. Not even his familiar could help him, he was too busy wrestling with an assassin the coven sent after them. Apparently, drawing human’s attention to witches by killing people and stealing what they needed of them to practice and perfect Blackmagic was illegal and the coven decided Crowley needed to be taken out, as well as his familiar. Crowley did try to talk to the Winchesters in one last effort to save himself, but it was hopeless, he was shot and kill immediately by Dean.  
The Winchester made their way back to the motel, the assassin was dead, but Crowley’s familiar was still there with Gabriel. When Crowley was shot, his familiar knew it, he could feel their connection being lost with no brain activity on the other end to sustain the link. He felt empty and distraught and emotion that was quickly changed into blind range upon seeing the Winchesters. “You. . . you killed him. HOW DARE YOU!” He shouted, he tried to attack them, but he was just barley being held back by Gabriel.  
“Hey! You need to breathe and calm down” Gabriel said soothingly, holding him tightly.  
“No, Gabe! They killed Crowley! They killed my witch!”  
“What the hell?” Dean asked. “Do you two know each other?”  
The other familiar stopped fight Gabriel and turned to face him. “You didn’t tell them?”  
“Well, it wasn’t the most important thing at the time” Gabriel replied.  
“I _knew_ you had your own motive to want him dead. I _knew_ we couldn’t trust you!” Dean said angrily.  
“This is my brother, Castiel.” Gabriel explained, he turned his attention from Dean back to Castiel “and you were too blind to see that Crowley was an awful witch. He was forcing you to kill”  
“He was my witch, Gabriel. You should have stayed out of my fucking business”  
“He was going to get you both killed by the coven’s assassins, you deserve better than him!”  
“At least he chose me, and I didn’t have to force myself onto him”  
“We should go before someone find us in a room with a dead body” Gabriel said, done arguing, that last comment stung him.

While they were driving back to the bunker, with a stop for the night in another motel, Castiel, who Gabriel insisted come with them since he had finally saved his brother from Crowley and now had nowhere else to go, asked “So, how do you feel about your brother becoming a witch?”  
“Castiel, shut your mouth” Gabriel threatened, he knew his brother was mad at him for what happened, but he didn’t need his brother picking a fight with two hunters!  
“Sam’s not a witch. He did one spell one time and Gabriel’s getting kicked out of this car just the same as you when we get out of this town”  
“Dean-”  
“What, Sam?” Dean cut his brother off. “Don’t tell me you actually want to be bonded to him”  
“When a familiar bond it’s for life or till death” Castiel explained. “Trying to separate a familiar from his witch can cause harm to the familiar, not so much physical harm but mental and emotional harm.”  
“You’re fucking kidding me, right Sam? You didn’t just commit yourself to some fucking cat you picked up off the street two days ago, right?”  
“Dean I-”  
“I told you not to do that fucking spell. I told you this was dangerous!”  
“Dean shut up! You always think you know what’s best for me, but you don’t!”  
“You have a cat permanently following you around!”  
“Gabriel is not just a cat; he’s a familiar”  
While the brothers bickered in the front of the car, in the back of the car Gabriel turned to Castiel “Do you see what you did, Castiel?”  
Castiel smirked, watching the brothers. “Exactly what I wanted”  
“You were never like this before, Crowley. You were always on my side. Never tried to cause trouble or take cheap jabs at people. He changed you, Cas”  
Castiel looked at Gabriel. “You took my witch from me. Yes, he may have changed me, but he deeply cared about me. Familiars get masters who care that deeply about them once if they’re lucky. I’m destroyed that he’s dead and it’s all because of you! I feel empty, like someone reached straight into my chest and ripped out my heart, so yes, I’m taking cheap jabs and causing trouble, but you did this as well Gabriel. You could have left me and let me live happily with my witch, but you couldn’t stay out of my business and now I’m on my own and I’m terrified and angry, so thank you for that”  
“Cas, that assassin was going to kill you and Crowley, even if you had fought it off the coven wouldn’t stop sending assassins until you and your witch were dead! I wasn’t going to let that happen and because of that Crowley had to die!”  
“Crowley would never have let that happen to me. He cared too much about me to let me die”  
“There’s no spell that can bring a familiar back from the dead”  
Castiel shook his head. “Crowley was making advancements in magic you couldn’t even dream of. Sure, a human life may have had to been sacrificed here and there to get what we needed but it was for the benefits from practicing this magic, ‘black magic’ as the coven put it, far outweighed the cost”  
By now, the brothers had tuned into the familiars conversation “Tell that to the people whose family members died” Dean replied to Castiel’s remarks, disgusted.  
Castiel could feel the tension and energy in the car and could gather Dean would have loved to slaughter Castiel on the spot. “I should leave, I’m not wanted here”  
“No” Gabriel said. “You’re staying”  
“Your hunter friend here wants me dead, and I have a feeling your little witch here wouldn’t stop him if he tried, I’d rather just go accept my fate and find the first witch I can and live my life serving someone new”  
“No! I’m not going to let you end up bonding to another evil witch!”

They arrived at the motel. Castiel, once he was out of the car, turned into his animal form of a black crow and flew up to the top of the motel and sat there by himself. He needed time alone, to just wanted to be by himself.

Meanwhile, everyone else walked into the motel room. Gabriel changed into a cat and curled up on the nearest bed. He wanted to sleep because he was so worn out, but he couldn’t fall asleep. He was too worried about Sam, about their bond, and mostly about Castiel, he and his big brother used to be so close but all that ended after Gabriel bonded with his previous witch, Kali, years ago. Castiel left to find his own witch and when Kali died (after being bonded for about 100 years) Gabriel went out to look for his brother. What he found was his brother bonded to an evil witch, who had manipulated Castiel. Maybe if Gabriel had found Castiel sooner or refused to let him leave the first time it wouldn’t have ended up like this. Should he go out and try and talk to him? Castiel is still Castiel, his big brother. Maybe he should just give him time instead. . . Gabriel didn’t know what to do. But he wasn’t alone! _Sam, what do you do when you and Dean get into fights?_ He asked Sam telepathically.  
Sam looked around, concerned for a second, before he spotted Gabriel staring at him from the bed. This was the telepathy thing that Gabriel had mentioned earlier! Sam sat down on the bed next to Gabriel and tried to talk to him via this new telepathic link. _Well, we usually give each other a little while to breathe, and then we make jabs at each other about the problem before having another blowout that usually ends in us figuring out a solution for our problem. It’s not exactly healthy the way we deal with our problems. . . If you’re asking what to do about Castiel, I think you should give him a little time to breathe, but then you should go talk to him. He needs you. _  
_Thanks Sam _Gabriel transformed back into his humans form and stepped outside.____

_____ _

On the roof of the motel, Castiel had changed into back in his human form. Gabriel sat down next to him. He could see Castiel’s face in the dark, it was stained with tears. “Not sure of this helps at all but when Kali died, I used to read her spell book all the time. Seeing her unique hand writing and reading her words, her turn of phrase, it made me feel close to her again, it lessened the pain of the loss if only for a short time.”  
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Castiel asked, unable to look at his brother.  
“You’re my brother, Feathers” Gabriel said calling Castiel his old nickname. “And what you’re going through right now is hard. I may not have liked Crowley but you did and you were bonded for a long time, his death is going to take a toll and I just want you to come out alright on the other side”  
It hurt Castiel so much that Gabriel’s was being so good to him when he wasn’t even there to comfort him when Kali died. “Stop being so nice, just leave me alone”  
“Castiel, please, don’t shut me out”  
“I’ve done nothing to deserve your kindness!”  
“What? Cas, that’s ridiculous. What do you want me to do? Fight you, insult you. I’m not going to kick you when you’re down!”  
“I don’t want your help, I should be left to deal with Crowley’s death like you did with Kali’s”  
“Kali died after you left to find a witch. It’s not your fault she died and I was alone”  
Castiel was shaking as he pushed himself up to stand. “Hit me”  
“I’m not going to hit you” Gabriel stood looking at his shaky brother and grabbed his shoulders. “I mean, look at you, you can barely stand”  
Castiel clenched his jaw. “I said hit me.”  
“Castiel, you’re grieving, not thinking straight. You don’t want me to hit you”  
Castiel grabbed his brother and hugged him. Gabriel, of course, hugged him back.  
“It hurts so bad, Gabriel” Castiel choked out. “I just want him back”  
“I know, Cassie” Gabriel whispered back. “It’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna hurt like hell and it’s gonna hurt for a while but you can get through this. You don’t have to go through this alone. I love you, Feathers”  
“I love you so much, Gabriel”

The brothers stayed outside for a little while longer until Gabriel was finally able to convince Castiel to come downstairs and come inside. Once they were in the motel room Sam and Dean were already laying in their beds ready for bed, and Cas knew he couldn’t sleep on the bed with either of them, so he transformed into his little crow self and found a spot in the farthest corner of the room. Gabriel, on the other hand, hopped up onto Sam’s bed in his kitten form and curled up next to Sam’s side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Gabriel says "Thanks, Sam" before stepping outside, that was supposed to be italicized meaning it was said through the telepathic link he and Sam now have but, although I do know how to italicize words and sentences, I could not italicize those two words. I am not sure why.


	4. Who are you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I change the story of Supernatural a bit here due to the fact that Castiel isn’t an angel in this.

Sam and Dean brought Castiel and Gabriel back to the bunker the next day and Sam showed the two around the bunker. The bedrooms were the last stop on the tour, he gave both familiars their own rooms. “You can always decorate it yourself if you want, to make it homier” he told them.  
“Thanks Sam”  
“You look a little tired after that drive, do you want to take a nap?” Sam asked Gabriel.  
“I do like cat naps” Gabriel said grabbing Sam’s arm and turning into a cat, Sam reacted quickly making sure the resting cat didn’t fall from his arms.

Meanwhile, Dean had gone straight to the kitchen, he was hungry and wanted a sandwich. Fortunately, there was half a sandwich left in the fridge but not much else. As he was eating, he was saw Castiel appear in the doorway but the minute he saw Dean, Castiel jumped back probably hoping Dean did see him but he had.  
“I know your there” Dean said, “Do you want something to eat?”  
“Is there anything around I could have?” Castiel asked walking into the kitchen.  
“Not much, actually” Dean replied. “I’m going shopping for food soon”  
“I could do it” Castiel replied. At least if Cas could help out, it would make him feel like he was less of an unwanted burden thrust on the brothers by Gabriel.  
“No. I should do it. You don’t what food Sammy and I like to eat”  
“You could make a list. I used to do all the shopping for Crowley, it’s no bother” Castiel insisted.  
Dean though about it. It would be nice to just relax to just relax in his room with his sandwich, reading his magazines before going on another hunt. “Okay” Dean took a pad of paper and pen from one of the drawers and started to make a list off all the foods he and Sammy wanted and needed, he includes his allergy medicine at the bottom of the list, also shelling out some money.  
Castiel looked at the list and nodded. “Okay! I’ll be back shortly”

Castiel was out for the better part of 2 hours, not realizing how far away the supermarket was, but he came back with everything that was asked of him with an additional bunch of candy, since Gabriel loves candy, with change to spare. Castiel had become particularly skilled and getting deals on groceries. By the time Castiel come home, Gabriel had woken up from his cat nap and was delighted to see Castiel had thought about while shopping, immediately popping a cherry tootsie pop in his mouth.  
“So, do you want to work on learning some more spells today?” Gabriel asked Sam.  
“I’m not sure”  
“Not sure? Does that mean you don’t?”  
“I’m just a little scared to mess with witchcraft” Sam hunted witches, he’d even work with witches if the need arose, but he had never tried to practice witchcraft and he was none too eager to start.  
“It’s not messing, it’s learning with a teacher, me!” Gabriel could sense Sam was uncomfortable, so he decided not to push it too hard. “But we don’t have to do anything today”  
“I would appreciate that”  
“So, what are we going to do today?” Gabriel asked.  
“Well, we don’t have a case as of right now so we can try and get to know each other a little more and bond”  
“Yes, bonding!”

Sam and Gabriel decided to talk, the best way to get to know anyone, but as a way of keeping their conversation more private they decided to take a walk from the bunker to town and back, that would give them plenty of time to talk. Thankfully, it was also a really nice day. Sam talked to Gabriel as they walked, telling his familiar all about himself so they could grow closer. He talked about growing up on the road and going college, but mostly about everything that happened after Dean pulled him out of school and back into the life of hunting, he made it clear that although he sometimes did wonder what it would be like if he became a lawyer, he no longer saw himself wanting that kind of life, he liked hunting, it wasn’t just running and fighting but researching too, he made friends and lost friends, even lost family, but in all his life he only ever had one constant and that constant was still about today: Dean, his brother. Once Sam finished talking, he asked Gabriel to tell him about himself, and so Gabriel did. It was hard to tell Sam everything because Gabriel had been around for a while. He told him mostly about the times when he was bonded to witches. Since he and Castiel were brothers, which was uncommon among familiars, they tried to bond with witches that lived near each other. His first bonds didn’t last long but people didn’t live very long back then either, and it was hard for witches to learn healing spells and even harder to heal themselves. Still, Gabriel comforted them on their way out as much as he could, even the ones who weren’t that nice to the familiar, because it was his job. However, the one he talked the most about was Kali. She was his previous and longest bond. Kali was a witch for many years before she met Gabriel, like Sam she was an incredibly powerful born witch (as opposed to a human who just started to study Wicca and witchcraft) and taught Gabriel most of what he now knew and wanted to pass on to Sam. He talked about the spells they would do and about how Gabriel was able to convince her to use her magic to give people what they had coming to them, more in a comical sense than a deadly sense, magical pranks but they were careful to make sure no one could pin it to her. He told Sam about how taking care of Kali helped him realize he had a passion for baking. By the time Gabriel met Kali she had become immune to most sickness by catching them and then using magic potions to heal herself, this was, of course, before the invention of vaccines. However, every now and then Kali would catch a cold or the flu and the first few times Kali tried to take care of herself and Gabriel knew she could, but she also didn’t have to, he was her familiar and he was going to take of her! So, he would make sure she was comfortable, get all the ingredients needed to make the healing potion mix it into a soup and give it to her, after one night’s sleep she’d be as good as new. One time when Kali was sick and Gabriel buying ingredients for the potion, he also bought some extra ingredients not on the list. He decided it would be a nice surprise if when Kali woke the next morning, there was also a cake waiting for her, Gabriel knew he would love something like that. So, he made the soup, let Kali rest and then made the cake. When they got up the next morning and ate the cake it was awful. Kali, being the supportive witch she was, ate a full slice. “Even I couldn’t eat it, Sam, that how bad it was, I don’t know how she did it.” Needless to say, after that disaster Gabriel kept practicing and got better much better. Kali even got him a book to write his own recipes in. Kali was also the reason Gabriel knew so many languages because they would travel all the time sometimes Kali would teach him and other times, he was able to pick up from just being in the country. He loved traveling with her until that one trip to Europe. Gabriel explained how they were staying in little cottage in France that Kali owned, it was secluded, but it was meant to be. Gabriel could shift from cat to human form as much as he wished, and Kali could practice magic without the fear that someone would see them. One day, while Kali was out gathering supplies for spells Gabriel went for a walk in the surrounding woods as a cat. He loved to find and chase mice the that were around, it was good fun and exercise. When we got back to the cottage, he hoped through a window he left open and trotted to the fireplace where he changed back to a human. He was going to light a fire when he heard a thump. He saw in the doorway to Kali’s room, a kid staring at him. The thump he heard was the kid dropping Kali’s spell book in shock when Gabriel had transformed in front of his very eyes. This wasn’t anyone he or Kali knew, just some rando who broke into their home “like it was a cottage in a freakin’ fairytale!” Gabriel had said, angry, and rightfully so. He continued saying the kid ran into town and started screaming about how Kali was a witch, she had a book full of spell and she put a spell on Gabriel that he saw Gabriel turn from a cat into a human. Gabriel tried to defend her but people in Europe loved burning people at the stake, so they grabbed Kali and set her on fire as fast as they could. Gabriel tried to get to her, but he told him to run, to get away before the killed him too. He didn’t want to, he didn’t care if he died but she was still his witch and he still had to listen to her. Then he saw people with torches heading to their cottage. Gabriel was fast, he arrived at the cottage before the torches, but he couldn’t save everything like he had wanted. He was able to grab two things. The spell book and the collar, Kali got it for him, it wasn’t unusual for cat and dog familiars to wear collars so if they were out alone in their animal form no human or animal control would try and take them thinking they were a stray animal. After Gabriel escaped into the woods around the cottage, he traveled mostly in his cat form until he got to a part of France he and Kali had never been to before, it was safe. After that Gabriel went on a mission to find his brother which took him to America. When he found out his brother was with an evil witch the coven wanted to get rid of, he knew he’d need a powerful witch to help him, that led him to Sam Winchester, who not only could become a powerful witch but was also a hunter.  
“How did you know?” Sam asked as they continued to walk. “Are familiars able to sense the power of any witch they’re near?”  
Gabriel nodded. “The feeling gets stronger the more powerful they are”  
“So, you chose me because I was a powerful natural born?”  
“Yes but also because you were a hunter, I knew you’d help me save my brother and if we ended up bonded I hoped you be a good witch and you are”

Since it was staring to get dark the two made their way back to the bunker, when they got inside they were greeted with the smell of burgers being made. Dean decided to make burgers since Castiel picked up everything necessary to do so. After everyone had a burger on their plate Dean asked. “You all fine with beer or does the cat boy want milk?”  
“I know or I hope you were joking but milk isn’t good for cat’s genius, you’re not supposed to feed them it. And to answer your question, yes beer is fine.”  
“Alright, what about you Cas?”  
“Oh, I’m not allowed to have beer” Castiel said “water will be fine”  
“Not allowed?” Dean asked grabbing three beers and a bottle of water.  
“Yes, Crowley said-” Castiel stopped himself. Crowley was dead, he had to remember that. “Never mind”  
Dean gave the three men their drinks and sat down. “So, Cas, you ever have a bacon cheeseburger before?”  
“No, definitely not. Are they good?”  
“They’re amazing” Dean answered. “Try it”  
Castiel took a bite and Dean could tell by the look on his face that he loved it. “Good, huh?”  
Gabriel shrugged. “I’ve had better”  
“I wasn’t asking you”  
“Yes. This is one of the greatest things I’ve ever tasted!” Castiel answered.  
Dean smiled “my bacon cheeseburgers are the best”

After dinner, Gabriel and Sam decided the continue to bond and get to know each other by talking and playing a card game because there wasn’t much else to do in the bunker.  
“Have you played cards?” Sam asked as he started dealing out a hand for go-fish. Something easy to start out.  
“Not really, no. I have seen people play with cards before, but I’ve never actually done it”  
“Well I’ll teach you a few games. This one is the easiest of them all” Sam said before explaining the rules of the game. “Well, you have a bunch of cards in your hands. If you have two of the same number you take them out and put them down, like this” Sam said, pulling out the pair of fours he had and placed them down “and then we take turns asking if the other person has a number we need. If you have it, you give it to them, if you don’t you say, ‘go fish’ and the other person has to pick a card from the deck. The person with the most matches wins”  
“Okay” Gabriel nodded. “That seems simple enough” He looked down as his hand, not matches but he had a 6 so he asked. “Do you have any 6’s and what’s the hardest hunt you’ve ever been on?” Gabriel asked.  
“Go fish, and I’ve never really thought about it. Every time we encounter something new, its difficult, trying to find out what it is and how to kill it. After you face something like a werewolf a few times you think it would get easier but it doesn’t because even though they are monsters they’re still people, in a way, they don’t want to die and some of them aren’t killing humans, just cattle to survive, and then you have to let them go, with the knowledge that you did the right thing, for now, but if the temptation eventually become to much for them and they kill a human, that’s on you. So, hunts like that are also pretty difficult” Sam replied. “Do you have any 8’s?”  
“Yes” Gabriel handed Sam his one 8 card. “You ever go on a solo hunt?  
“Quite a few while Dean was dead”  
“Wait, hold up” Gabriel put his cards face down. “Dean’s a zombie!”  
“No! No, he’s not. He got brought back by death. . . Well, it’s a long story”  
“Woah! Really?” Gabriel asked. “Little tip: next time you're talking about yourself open with that!”  
“Can you imagine the stares I’d get?”  
“Okay maybe it’s not an opener but that’s still really cool!” Gabriel replied then added. “Do you have any 2’s?”  
Sam handed Gabriel his 2. “How many countries have you been to?”  
“Hmm. Let’s see. India, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, very briefly Russia with Kali, she liked to travel. Then while looking for Castiel I stowed away on a boat from France to Canada then I came to America!”  
“That’s quite a few”  
Gabriel nodded. “You ever travel out of the country?”  
“Never once, actually. . . And any 3’s?”  
“Go fish” Gabriel said. “Why?”  
Sam picked up another card “Dean’s scared of flying, also we already travel all over the country! Any 9’s?”  
“What’s the best state you’ve ever been to?” Gabriel asked.  
“Probably California. . . Or Texas” Gabriel gave him a confused look. “What?”  
“I mean, I haven’t been to either of those states but I’m pretty sure they are nothing alike.”  
“They may different but that doesn’t mean they both aren’t great. I mean, Texas has Tex-Mex, barbeque, and southern hospitality. Meanwhile, California has sun, beaches, and, even though I have never been, I would also to, if I ever got the chance, go to Comic- Con in San Diego.”  
“I’d really like to visit those places”  
“Maybe we will, if we ever get cases there”  
“Well, I could probably get some sense of what it’s like if you let me into your mind” Gabriel suggested.  
“No! I mean, not yet. . . I don’t want to subject you to that”  
“Okay, Sam”  
Sam looked down at his cards before he just put them down. “I don’t really want to play cards anymore”  
Gabriel could feel sadness and slight distress through their link. Gabriel put his cards down and then transformed into a cat, walking across the bed to Sam and nuzzled him.  
Sam smiled a little and pet Gabriel gently; his fur was really soft and when he started to purr it was really loud. Sam cleaned up the cards and just laid there for a while with his cat. Cats really were therapeutic.

“I would like you to teach me how to make your excellent burgers” Castiel said quietly from across the room to Dean who was paying zero attention.  
Dean looked up, he was filling the dishwasher. “What was that? I wasn’t listening”  
“. . . Nothing. It wasn’t important”  
“No, what did you say?”  
“I’d, uh. . . I’d like for you to teach me how to make your burgers”  
“Oh. Yeah, sure” Dean shrugged, he wouldn’t say no to having another burger, He walked over to the friend and pulled out the ingredients: chopped meat, cheese, egg, and bacon. “Come over here”  
Dean explained the before you cook anything you should wash your hands, then he showed Castiel how to make a patty using chopped meat and how to use and egg to help the meat stick together. After that he gave Castiel the chopped meat and an egg and asked him to do what he just showed him. Castiel was able to mimic what he watched Dean do.  
“Wow, you’re a quick learner.” Dean commented.  
“I’ve got a good teacher”  
“Yeah” Dean then moved over stove top, got a pan, put the burger on the pan, told Castiel at what temperature the stove should be at and how to cook it and when to add the cheese and when to cook and add the bacon. But while they were cooking Dean asked. “Can I ask you a few questions about familiar stuff?”  
“Of course, anything you’d like to know you can ask me”  
“What was the nature of your relationship with Crowley, were you guys dating?”  
“Crowley and I loved each other. We were never dating, simply because he never saw me as equal so I would have never been able to be his partner, but we were intimate from time to time.”  
“He didn’t think you were his equal?”  
“I don’t know a witch that does, except for Sam” Castiel explained. The whole familiars were made for the sole purpose of serving witches but not be equal was a thought shared by many witches.  
“So, is this whole being intimate with each other is commonplace with familiars and witches?”  
“Not usually. Most witches think it’s disgusting for a witch to lower themselves to being intimate with a familiar”  
“Why would familiars want to bond with people like that?” Dean asked.  
“Some out of necessity, some out of repaying a debt, some because they need to belong to someone to feel worth anything”  
“Why did you bond with Crowley?”  
“I felt it deep in my soul that I needed to. I met him and felt like I needed to be there for him, by his side helping him for whatever he needed. I just knew he was the one I needed to bond with. Not many familiars are able to say that found a witch like that”  
“Okay” Dean nodded and turned his attention back to his food. “Our burgers are finished”  
Castiel continued to look at Dean as he moved his burger from the pan onto a bun. “Why did you ask me those questions? Are you concerned about Gabriel bonding with your brother?”  
“Yes. Sam’s my brother and I don’t know anything about familiars or Gabe and I don’t want Sam to get hurt because he gets really close to Gabriel after all this bonding stuff they do and Gabe leaves for a different witch or whatever”  
“Gabriel would never do that. Besides, it’s not possible for a bond to be broken by anything other than death”  
“I know you said that before, I’m still worried about him. I barely know Gabe”  
“I promise you Gabriel is the single most loyal and loving familiar I’ve ever met in my life. He cares deeply about Sam already, I can see it”  
“And you’re not just saying that cause he’s your brother?”  
“I swear it to you I mean it, not because he’s my brother but because it’s the truth”  
Dean nodded. “Well” he said turning his attention back to the burgers. “Now you can help me cook, if you end up sticking around. Gabriel doesn’t seem like he wants to let you go even though he can’t stop you from leaving if you want to”  
“I didn’t think you cared much if I lived or dropped dead let alone enjoyed teaching me how to cook”  
“I’m trying to be nice, Cas”  
“I really appreciate that. I won’t overstay my welcome, I just want to make sure Gabriel gets settled in and is as happy as he seems before I leave”  
“Sounds good”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, I have never been to Texas, so I had to google: Things to like about Texas to get reasons why Sam likes Texas, if any of my Texas facts were wrong, I apologize to all Texans.  
> Also, I spent some time thinking about it and I decided Sam is nerd, he likes Game of Thrones (he’s mentioned reading the books), he probably likes Star Wars, Avengers, and everything else that’s a part of “nerd culture” and if he got the chance he would go to Comic-Con in San Diego.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the following weeks Sam and Gabriel continued to bond and become closer and closer. Due to this Castiel had been planning to leave in a few days, Gabriel had his witch now. However, when he was simply sitting in his room reading a book one night, he heard a quiet voice in the back of his head.  
_Come to me._  
Castiel couldn’t tell where it was coming from. He wandered around the bunker but couldn’t find who called him, but then he felt a pull and he followed it. No one was outside and he could still feel this pull, so he changed into his crow form and continued to follow it. This led his to a 5-star hotel, he perched on the window of the highest room in the hotel and the pull stopped. The window opened and he found himself face-to-face with Crowley. “Hello, Castiel”  
Castiel froze, unable to believe that Crowley was right here in front of him. He turned into his human form and lunged forward, hugging Crowley tightly as he stared sobbing. “I thought you died!”  
Crowley hugged Castiel back. “I did die but only temporarily, dear familiar. My mummy was a great witch taught me how to avoid permanent death. We can get back to work.”  
“Are we-. . . Are we still bonded? Did the bond break because you died?”  
“We do need to bond again but when we bond it should be as strong as it was before it was broken”  
“I missed you so much, Crowley. I was destroyed when I thought you were gone forever”  
“Never. I’ll always be right here with my familiar at my side”  
“How long have you been alive?” Castiel asked.  
“I was revived a few hours after I died. I spent the rest of that time trying to find you. You weren’t easy to track” Crowley frowned and stepped away from Castiel. “Then I saw you were with those hunters, the people that murdered me, I had half a mind to find a new familiar who wouldn’t betray me, but I thought it best to call you here first and have you explain why you would do this, Castiel!”  
Castiel’s heart dropped and he fell to his knees looking up at Crowley. “I didn’t intend to go with them, sir. My brother, Gabriel, he’s the familiar of one of the hunters. He’s a strong natural born and Gabriel wanted to bring me with them until I recovered from my heartache. If it wasn’t for him, I would have never been around those people, I swear it”  
“Hmm. I need you to be honest with my familiar, have you grown close to these people? Do they trust you?”  
“I have and they do” Castiel dropped his head “I’m so ashamed. I shouldn’t have gone with them after what they did to you. I don’t deserve to be yours”  
“While that is true perhaps, we can use this our advantage, if you swear to serve and never betray me again, no matter what.”  
“Of course. You mean everything to me. . . I love you”  
“I know” Crowley smiled. “I just needed to hear you say it, I need to be sure for what I’m going to need you to do”  
“What do you need me to do?”  
“I need you to stay with them but be available for me. When I call you, you come no matter what. If they happen to be investigating a death caused by us you lead them off our trail or shut down the case altogether, should that fail, or they become suspicious of you for any reason. Kill them. I’ll help you kill them if you require it”  
Castiel nodded. “Yes”  
“Good boy, Cas”  
Castiel finally allowed himself to look up at Crowley. He was smiling and that made Castiel’s heart flutter. He loved seeing Crowley happy.  
“Now, give me my spell book. I’ll put it somewhere else and we can spend the rest of the night bonding”  
Castiel smiled brightly and the book instantly appeared in Crowley’s hands. Crowley put his book in a safe and then took Castiel to the bedroom.

Castiel went back to his bunker and into his room, he sat on the bed head in his hands. This was awful. He didn’t want to hurt the Winchesters. They’ve been so good to him and now he had to betray them! No. As long as he they didn’t hunt Crowley, as long he kept the Winchesters off his tail like his witch wanted no one would get hurt. He could stay with his witch who he loved and make sure his brother and the Winchesters stay safe. However, that did little to ease the guilt he could feel growing inside him. He jumped when he heard a knock on his door.  
“W-who is it?”  
“Dean”  
Castiel got up and opened the door. “Yes?”  
“We’re going to Texas, Sam found a case, Gabriel wants to know if you want to hunt with us”  
“Yes. I’ll come with you” Castiel answered.  
“Alright” Dean said. “C’mon”  
On the way to Texas, Dean played his music loud to drown out Gabriel who liked to talk but Dean had no interest in what he had to say. In response, Gabriel continued to try and talk, but eventually he just started talking telepathically to Sam.

They made it to Texas, safe and sound. When they found a motel to stay in Dean explained to Castiel that they were hunting a ghost. There was a big old house that had been bought and refurbished many times but never used because every time someone tried to move in, they claimed it was haunted and tried to sell it again. Finally, the city bought it and refurbished it to make it a new ACS facility, a place to go while the kids awaited placement, but never moved anyone into it. Sam assumed a vengeful spirit must be haunting the place and decided it was worth checking out.  
“This sounds like a very interesting case. How can I help?” Castiel asked.  
“Well, usually we scout the place see if we can find out what and who it is we’re dealing with, we ask people who may know facts about the ghost and do research to find out where the person is buried or if the body was cremated then what object the-” Sam was cut off.  
“BORING! That sounds very and long and very boring. There’s an easier way to do it, Sammich!” Gabriel said, smiling and holding Kali’s spell book in his hands.  
Sam sighed and held the book. “Gabriel, magic is not the solution to everything. I’m a hunter, this is what we do best”  
Gabriel frowned, Sam hadn’t done a spell since they used the tracking spell on Crowley, Gabriel was okay with taking it slow, but they hadn’t done any magic! “Fine” But this discussion was far from over. Dean left to check out the house with Castiel so Castiel could get some hands-on experience hunting with something that was probably not so dangerous. Sam sat on the bed with a couple of books and quietly started reading through them and had a few tabs open on his laptop to do some research on the building’s history.  
Gabriel was sitting cross legged on the bed facing him. “Want me to help?”  
“Yeah, here” Sam said, handing Gabriel a book without looking at him.  
“The Bible?” Gabriel asked. “What help is this going to be?”  
“You never know until you start looking, so start looking”  
“But the Bible isn’t going to tell us anything about your vengeful spirit”  
Sam looked up, took the Bible out of Gabriel’s hand and threw it across the room before handing him a different one. “Here, it’s not the Bible. Read it”  
Gabriel glared up at Sam, looked down at the book and started reading. _Kali never acted like that._ He thought it before he could stop himself, forgetting for a moment about his mental link with Sam.  
“Well I’m sorry I’m not Kali!” Sam said loudly, standing “I’m never going to be her, so I’m sorry you ever fucking bonded me!”  
“Yeah” Gabriel stood up tossing the book on the bed, keeping his calm. “Me too” and he walked out the door.  
Sam watched Gabriel walk out before sitting back down. He felt awful for yelling at Gabriel, but in his whole life Sam never learned the proper way to deal with problems. Sam feared magic, not so much magic as practicing magic himself, so rather than deal with it he argued with Gabriel to push him away, in the end though, he was just causing more problems for himself.

Meanwhile, Dean and Castiel who had been searching one vengeful spirit found about a dozen (maybe two dozen) more. Castiel was helping Dean fight them off when he heard his witch’s voice again. Castiel, come to me  
“Cas?!” Dean shouted. He was there a minute ago then disappeared. Shit. Dean knew he needed to get out of the house, but he couldn’t leave Castiel behind. “Castiel?!”


	6. Chapter 6

Dean burst through the door of the motel. “Is Castiel here?” He asked Sam.  
“What are you talking about? He was with you” Sam replied as he walked over to check out his brother, see if he needed some first aid.  
“He disappeared. He couldn’t have still been in the house, it’s big place but I didn’t want to leave without him, so I searched for him. There were more than a dozen spirits there.”  
“Shit.” 

When Castiel finished helping Crowley, for the moment, he asked Crowley to cast a spell on him that would cause physical injury, so he could claim to have never left the ghost infested house but escaped after Dean. Crowley did so, Castiel feeling the pain of every bruise and laceration. Castiel flew back to Texas and stumbled into the motel room, holding onto the door frame for support.  
“Cas!” Gabriel, who had returned to the motel room and was yelling at Dean for losing his brother, ran to Cas, helping him stand. “What happened? Where were you?!”  
“I-I was attacked. The ghosts, they were everywhere” Castiel whispered. “I-I tried calling to Dean, I don’t think he heard me. They had me trapped”  
“It’s okay” Gabriel said, leading him to the nearest unoccupied bed to sit down on. “You're safe now. I got you”  
“I-I think I just need rest”  
Gabriel nodded. “Yes. Try and sleep.”  
Castiel transformed into a crow again, he liked sleeping as a crow, he took up less space that way. He tried his hardest to pretend like he was sleeping and not like the guilt as well as a barrage of other feelings were swirling around inside of him, preventing him from sleeping. He didn’t need to worry about the others though. Dean was resting and Gabriel had just told Sam that they needed to talk.  
Sam nodded in agreement. “I know” He looked over at the two sleeping bodies. “We should step outside, a little privacy”  
There were a few benches across the parking lot so they opted to go sit there.  
Gabriel spoke first. “I’m sorry about what I said. I was upset with you and I forgot about the connection. I’m sorry, Sam”  
“Just because we’re connected doesn’t mean you should filter yourself, I want you to be able to say and do whatever you want with me” Sam said “I should be the one who’s sorry, and I am, for acting like such a dick”  
“Sam, I feel useless, actually I am useless.” Gabriel said, explain why he was being pushy about Sam learning magic. “My one job in life is bond to a witch and serve them, help them, whatever they want and when you won’t practice magic or promise to and then fail to keep that promise I am as good as dead.”  
Sam frowned. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that, Gabriel. I’m just scared. It feels like everything I’ve ever done in my life has ends up with the people I care about most suffering. . . And I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire”  
“I can’t say what happened before won’t happen again because you blocked me from your mind, you don’t have to tell me anything before you’re ready, but I will say everything comes with a risk. It’s a risk I’ve always been willing to take, I just need you to be able to take it too.”  
Sam let a little of his mental block fall. He’d gotten used to holding it up to keep Gabriel out, but it felt nice to let a few mental bricks fall. “If you promise you’ll be here no matter what, no matter how bad it gets, I’m willing to try”  
“I promise” As a bonded familiar Gabriel didn’t have much of a choice but to stick with his witch but, more than that he wanted too. He cared about him.  
“Okay. I’ll be better, I promise. We can start right now if you want to”  
Gabriel smiled. “Yes! I do.”  
“Teach me”  
“Okay. One that can help us with this case is traveling onto another plane of existence. We’ll be able to see and talk to ghosts.”  
“That sounds like it would be really advanced”  
“It would be if you were doing it alone but you’re doing it with me. I’ll be your tether to that plain, meaning if I get badly hurt, we’ll both be back here instantly”  
“Okay, I’ll try it”  
“Great” Gabriel opened Kali’s book which was in his hands instantly. “For the this spell you just need to recite the words. No ingredients necessary.” Gabriel found the page he was looking for. “This is the spell.” Like all the rest it was in Latin.  
Sam took a deep breath and recited the spell. Although when he spoke nothing around them seemed to change. “Did it work?”  
Gabriel shrugged “Never done this spell before. I mean nothing _looks _different” Gabriel looked behind Sam and saw a woman staring at him. He shut Kali’s book and held it close to his chest in case she was a hunter with a thing against witches. “Uh, hello?” He asked.__  
She gasped “You can see me?”  
“Are you a ghost?” Gabriel smiled. “Sam! The spell worked!”  
“I can’t believe it. Ma’am, who are you?” Sam asked, walking a little close to her.  
She took a step back. “Who are you? Why can you see me?”  
“My name is Sam, it’s kind of a long story but through a spell I was able to travel onto your plane of existence.” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t really a long story.  
“Well, what do you want from me?” She asked.  
“The vengeful spirit, or spirits, in the haunted Crawford house. Can you tell us where the spirits bodies are buried?” Sam asked.  
“Well, no, but why don’t you try asking one of the ghosts there”  
Sam and Gabriel both traded hesitant looks. Fighting would help now that they could see the spirts, but they didn’t have weapons on them, Gabriel wasn’t a trained hunter, and spirits that want to attack them aren’t going to give them any useful answers!  
“There are some ghosts on the ground that aren’t as violent, newer residents out in the backyard. They’re much more skittish than that aggressive older residents."

____

“There’s the house” Gabriel said grabbing Sam’s arm when they started to approach the house. He wasn’t expecting the feeling of fear that washed over him, but he never fought a vengeful spirt before. He wasn’t prepared for this.  
“Calm down, kitten. I’ve got you, I’ll protect you” Sam said, presuming for the tight grip Gabriel had on his arm that he was scared.  
“Just gotta find the ghosts that aren’t evil” Gabriel said trying to calm himself down.  
“You ready?” Sam asked.  
“Wait” Gabriel transformed into a cat. Ready  
“Any specific reason for that?” Sam asked as they walked up the drive way to the backyard.  
_You heard the ghost girl, the ghosts that would bother to talk to us are shy. They might have an easier time talking to you with me! Timid people like animals because we aren’t judgmental, as far as they know, at least. . . Holy Crap. . . ___  
At this point they had entered the backyard and it was swarming with ghosts. Gabriel’s claws were out ready to fight (not even sure if his claws would do anything) but the ghosts barley spared a glance their way. _Guess beating people up is no fun when we can see ‘em. ___  
“Maybe they think we’re ghosts cause were on their plain” Sam suggested before catching a glance at someone near the back of the backyard that was staring and smiling at Gabriel. Perfect! A person that likes cats. Gabriel followed Sam’s gaze to the ghost and walked a little faster than Sam over to the ghost. “Who are you?!” She asked.  
_I’m a cat! _Gabriel knew she could hear him but spoke up in his head anyway. He meowed at her.__  
“There aren’t animals here ever!” The girl was confused as to why this cat was here, but she hadn’t been able to pet a cat in so long. . . The girl very carefully moved closer before kneeling and petting Gabriel. His fur felt soft under her fingers and the rhythm of his purrs calmed her. When the girl seemed relaxed and calm enough Sam slowly approached with a friendly smile. “Hey there”  
The girl looked up and then back down at the cat. “Is the kitty yours?”  
“Yes, his name is Gabriel. He seems to like you” Sam said.  
_Jealous, Sammich? _Gabriel teased through their psychic connection.__  
“I thought maybe he wasn’t with anybody, I-I didn’t mean to take your cat” she said, pulling her hand away from Gabriel and standing up.  
“May I talk to you for a moment?” Sam asked.  
She had to think about it for the moment. “If I say yes can I keep petting your cat?” She asked  
_Tell her yes, she can! ___  
“Yes, you can”  
“Then yes” the girl said, she sat down in the grass of the yard and continued to pet Gabriel.  
“Do you know where we are right now?” Sam asked sitting down next to here.  
“Crawford house”  
“Do you know how you got here?” Sam wanted to test how much this spirit new about the fact they were a spirit. He’d never gotten to talk to one before.  
“Well, I remember something happening. . . Being in the hospital and I could see myself on the hospital bed, like I was outside of my body. . . Then a woman came, she wanted to take me, so I ran and felt a pull to here and found this place with all these ghosts. . . Just like me”  
“Why here? Is this house or anything in it significant to you?” Sam asked wanting to find out what her connection to the house was a hopeful find everyone else’s too.  
“There’s a town legend, no one alive really believes it but everyone does it anyway, that if you bury something in this backyard you’ll never really die, you’ll become a ghost and live forever and haunt this house. Guess it turns out it’s true.”  
“So, this backyard is filled with possessions that belong to people who are now the spirits in the house and backyard?”  
The girl nodded. “Why do you want to know?” She asked.  
Sam didn’t answer. He didn’t want to tell her truth because she didn’t seem to mind one day becoming a vengeful spirit, but Sam couldn’t let the spirits attack people who just wanted to buy and fix up a house. “I should go”  
“Go?” The girl frowned, suddenly more brave than shy. “You can’t leave, no ghost can leave!”  
_Sam, she’s drawing the attention of the others. We should go, now! _  
Sam noticed more of the spirits when turning to face them, ready to attack with the insinuation that they weren’t lost spirits. Sam grabbed Gabriel made a break for the nearest exit to the backyard.__

__

_____ _

__

When they reached the motel, not a vengeful spirit in sight Sam asked, “How do we leave this plain?”  
Gabriel transformed back into a human. “Recite the spell backwards”  
Sam did so, and they were back.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean was fast asleep when Sam got back to the motel and Sam couldn’t deny that Dean needed his sleep, Sam did too for that matter, so Sam waited till the morning to tell Dean his discovery.  
Dean’s response was “Well, let’s just set the whole backyard on fire”  
“No” Sam said before turning to his familiar. “Gabe, do you know if there are any spells that can expel the ghosts from the house or detach them from their objects, anything that can give us time to dig up and burn all the objects?” Sam asked, looking to his familiar.  
“I’ll go through Kali’s book and see if I can find anything we can use.”  
While Gabriel and Castiel looked though their spell books, Sam and Dean got ready, making sure the lighter had fuel, the shot guns were full, and they had extra salt rounds on hand.  
“I think I found something” Gabriel said. It was a simpler version the spell that allowed a witch to freeze time; it would hold the spirits wherever they were for an extended period to allow the Winchesters to do what they needed. “It’s not too hard, no ingredients, just reciting words”  
“Let’s go” Sam said.  
“Wait, can’t we test it out first? See if it works?” Dean asked.  
“No, Dean, it’s a spell, not a new car. You do spells, you don’t ‘test them out’” Gabriel replied. “Now let's go”

Armed with rock salt shot guns and having gone over the spell on the way, the Winchesters and familiars walked into the backyard. A few spirits tried to attack as they made there way up the drive, but the rock salt took care of them. Sam recited the spell when they reached the backyard, everyone dropping their weapons for a shovel. It was unfortunate the spell did not last as long as they hoped. But they were prepared, the Winchesters fired at any ghost that tried to attack the familiars while they were salting and burning the items, which got increasingly easier as each ghost went up in flames with the object it was tied to.

After all the objects were salted and burnt to a crisp, they went back to their no tell motel and collected whatever had been left behind before checking out.  
Castiel told the three others. “I’m going to fly back. I haven’t really had a chance to stretch my wings.”  
“What?! But, Cas, you got attacked just yesterday!”  
“I’m not in pain and I’d much rather fly and then be stuck in a cramped car, Gabriel”  
Gabriel nodded. “Fine.” He knew Castiel loved flying, and Gabriel was constantly going back and forth between his human form and cat form so it only made sense to him that Castiel would want to fly. However, the real reason Castiel wanted to fly was so he could make a detour to Crowley’s without any suspicion befalling him. Crowley wasn’t calling him, but he didn’t like being such a distance from his witch. He needed this.

Crowley was relaxing, taking a break from ‘changing magic as we know it’ when Castiel arrived. “Well hello there little familiar, I wasn’t expecting you”  
“I wanted to see you” Castiel walked over and sat down next to Crowley, only for Crowley to grab Castiel and pull his familiar into his lap, kissing him. It wasn’t too often that Crowley was affectionate, but tonight was one of those nights and Castiel always took any chance to be affectionate with Crowley when he could.  
Crowley kissed down Castiel’s neck, carefully to avoid the bruises his spell caused, he knew he couldn’t heal his familiar as that would be suspicious. “How are you my sweet little crow? I missed you”  
“I’m much better now, I missed you too”  
“I need you my little crow. I really need you” Crowley whispered, nipping Castiel’s shoulder.  
“You have me” Castiel whispered back.

Castiel was with Crowley for about two hours and during that time the Winchester’s and Gabriel had arrived at the bunker. Gabriel and the others noticed but didn’t say anything because they didn’t know if Castiel should be faster, given he had a more direct route with no traffic or slower given that he’s flying while they are in a car. They didn’t need to worry too much though because Castiel did return.  
“Hey, Cassie” Gabriel said when he saw his brother walk in. He was sitting at one of the tables in the library, so he saw Castiel the minute he walked in.  
“How was the drive back?” Castiel asked.  
“Long” Gabriel replied, “and Dean’s music, as always, was loud, but that didn’t stop Sam and I from being able to communicate through our bond.”  
“I’m really glad you found someone to bond with that you like so much”  
“Me too. . . Castiel, do you want to leave?” Gabriel asked, he’d thought about this, particularly on the ride from Texas.  
“Leave?” Castiel answered with another question, not sure where this was coming from.  
“Yeah, you know, leave the bunker and find a new witch”  
“Do you want me to leave? Am I becoming a burden?”  
“No, I don’t want you to! I was just wondering if you wanted to cause I’ve kinda not been letting you go anywhere unless we were with you” A fact which Gabirel was aware of and beginning to feel a bit guilty about, he just wasn’t ready to lose his brother like he did when he bonded with Kali.  
“Well, truth be told I’ve been enjoying spending time with you and the Winchesters. You’ve helped me through so much and I really appreciate how much you’ve been looking out for me. Though I would like to be able to just go out and fly occasionally just by myself because everyone needs a little alone time”  
“Okay.” Gabriel smiled. “That’s fine”

The two brothers split up, Gabriel walking to Sam’s room where he was reading. Gabriel decided to have some fun. He turned into a cat and hopped up onto Sam’s bed, then placed himself on Sam’s lap, in front of the book he was reading, obscuring his view.  
“Well hello there, kitten, is Cassie home safe?” Sam asked, scratching behind Gabriel’s ear and putting his book down.  
_Yeah. Crowstiel’s in the bunker safe and sound. ___  
“Crowstiel?” Sam asked in confusion.  
_It’s a nickname. He’s a crow and his name is Castiel: Crowstiel. _Gabriel barley paused before he asked the question he came in here to ask in the first place. _How long has it been since you’ve gotten laid, Sammich?___  
This question came out of nowhere and completely confused Sam. “Excuse me?”  
_Laid, Sammy, sex. ___  
“What?” Sam thought about it for a second and was about to answer when he decided to say. “Gabriel, if we are going to have a conversation about sex, I’m not having it with a cat”  
Gabriel smirked and transformed back into a human, completely naked aside from his collar, straddling Sam’s waist. “Okay, will you have it now?”  
“Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”  
“Because I didn’t want to”  
Sam looked at his familiars naked body and he couldn’t lie, it was taking a lot of self-control to talk to Gabriel rather than pin on him down on the bed right now. He then looked up at Gabriel’s face, his golden eyes and his smile, it’s clear they both wanted the same thing here. Sam hooked his finger under Gabriel’s collar and pulled him closer until their lips connected

A while later Dean had gone out and gotten Chinese food for dinner because he didn’t feel like cooking and there was a place close-ish in which the food wasn’t too expensive and tasted alright.

Castiel wondered into the kitchen, looking for food, as did Sam and Gabirel, when they got hungry. However, there some different. Where Castiel retained his natural look of happy to see food because he was hungry, Sam and Gabriel looked happy for different reasons. When Dean saw that their hair was all messed up but not in a ‘I was sleeping’ bed head kind of way, it was clear what had happened when he was gone and if that wasn’t enough Gabriel had a few red marks trailing down his neck. Dean didn’t say anything just dished out the food.  
“Thank you, Dean” Castiel said thankfully, taking the food container.  
“Thanks a lot, big bro” Sam said, picking up the food for both him and Gabriel. The two left, probably to eat alone, maybe watch a movie while they were at it.

__

__

Still in the kitchen it was silent between Castiel and Dean. “They were very loud while you were gone"  
“So, they did do what I think they did”  
“If that thing is sex, then yes”  
“Damn”  
“Damn?”  
“Yeah. I mean I know they were probably going to get together eventually but I’d hoped Gabriel would seem less like an annoying pain in the ass by then. He doesn’t”  
“Gabriel is just a general annoying pain in the ass, it doesn’t get much better.” Castiel was nothing if not honest. “He is who he is, and he loves your brother wholly and deeply”  
“Yeah. I guess I should be happy it’s not a demon or werewolf this time.”  
“Sam likes to have sex with supernatural beings?” Castiel asked, knowing what is hunted to not regularly have sex with hunters.  
“It’s not that he likes to have sex with them, it’s that he falls in love with them”  
“So, this is a regular occurrence?”  
“Well, it only happened twice”  
“Did Sam hurt these other two?”  
“Well, he was forced to kill the werewolf, Madison. And he held Ruby while I stabbed her because she betrayed us”  
Castiel was getting increasingly worried. “He better not hurt Gabriel”  
“As long as Gabriel doesn’t go bad”  
“If Gabriel is nothing else, he’s fiercely loyal to the very end”  
Rather than dip into another period of long, awkward silence, Dean asked “Do you ever want to find a new witch?”  
“From time to time, yes. I do feel useless without one, but it’s been nice just being around people who care about me like you three seem to.” There was barley a pause before Castiel abruptly stood and said “I think I’ll go eat in my room, leave you in peace. Thank you again, Dean.” Without another word Castiel took his food and went to his bedroom.  
Dean didn’t see him for the rest of night, maybe he hit a nerve, or maybe Castiel was just odd. Dean went with the latter and didn’t let it bother him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The line: How long has it been since you’ve gotten laid, Sammich? is supposed to be in italics but it wouldn't italicizes for me.


	8. Chapter 8

Castiel didn’t sleep too well that night. After he left Dean at the table he had to sneak out and over to Crowley. He and Crowley collected two hearts: one for a spell and one as a backup in case the spell failed (after all this was pioneering work.) After they acquired the hearts, they made it look like a werewolf attacked the humans, rather than a wild animal, because there were hunters in the area. After that, he could go back to the bunker to get some sleep, but by this time the sun was rising, Sam was an early riser, Dean only getting up an hour or two later. So, Castiel didn’t get much sleep.

“So, I was checking out the local news this morning” Dean said, at breakfast “and apparently there are two dead bodies found in an alley both look like wild animal attacks, even though the worst this town has seen is a raccoon or a few skunks at night, and their hearts were missing.”  
That was fast.  
“You’re thinking werewolf?” Sam asked.  
Dean answered with a nod and by saying “What else can you think off the steals hearts and looks like an animal attack?”  
“Would you happen to know any spells that can help with werewolf hunting?” Gabriel asked Castiel. “Because I don’t”  
“I don’t think I do. Crowley never experimented much with the supernatural creatures, mostly just humans”  
“We don’t need to magic to do our job” Dean said. “Sam and I will handle this.”  
Gabriel frowned “and what are Cas and I supposed to do while you two are handling it?”  
“I don’t know, you two can have a night off and just relax here in the bunker and spend some brotherly quality time” Sam suggested.  
“The last time we spent an extended amount of time with each other Gabriel and I were kids and every time I changed into my crow form, he’d turn into a cat and practice hunting by pouncing on me!” Castiel said, staring at Gabriel with a look that said, ‘don’t you dare try that again.’  
Gabriel didn’t respond with words, instead he laughed at the memory and gave Castiel a smirk that said, ‘we’re going to have so much fun.’

The two brothers left after the two familiars to themselves and they decided to go into town.  
“So, where are we going first?” Castiel asked as they looked around.  
“How about we get you some new clothes?”  
“New clothes?”  
“Yeah. Your shirts and pants all look the same and you’ve been wearing the same old dirty trench coat for years. We should go shopping” Gabriel led Castiel around the store and it was apparent from the start that Gabriel and Castiel had very different ideas of what was considered fashionable.  
“I’m not wearing that” Castiel said when Gabriel handed him bright mismatched colored clothes.  
“Why not? You got a problem with the colors green, orange, and pink?”  
“Yes, Gabriel. Those colors don’t go together”  
“Well, what do you want? And don’t show me another white shirt and black pants!”  
“. . . Well, we seem to be at an impasse”  
“God, Cas, your sense of fashion is so bland!”  
“And yours is ridiculous!”  
Gabriel gasped. “You hurt me, Cas!”  
“You called me bland!”  
“because you are”

Hearing the brothers argue, a shop assistant walked over. She looked at the clothes Castiel was looking at and the clothes Gabriel had in his hands and said “hello, do you two need any help finding something?”  
“Yes, my brother here has no sense of fashion and we need to find him a few new outfits. Would you help?” Gabriel asked.  
“Sure” The shop assistant helped get Castiel a few pairs of black jeans (he liked them because it was the closest thing he could get to this pants). The next thing was shirts. Castiel was drawn to the flannel shirts because it was familiar, it was what Dean and Sam wore. The shop assistant tried to show him some other shirts but Castiel wanted a flannel shirt.  
“Really, Cas?” Gabriel asked “flannel?”  
“Yes” Castiel said, smiling brightly “I like these, they make me feel at home”  
The shop assistant asked Castiel. “Is there a particular color you like?”  
“I like the blue ones”  
The shop assistant picked out a few blue flannel shirts for Castiel to try on as well as a green one and a red one just in case he wanted to see what other colors would look like on him.  
Castiel tried on a few of them and walked out of the dressing room to show his brother, smiling brightly. “Look!”  
“You look like a slightly shorter, black haired Dean” is what Gabriel said every time Castiel came out with a flannel on.  
“I look perfect” Castiel said, smiling even wider.  
“No, no. Not perfect, like Dean”  
“Dean is perfect”  
“. . . Uh-huh, sure. Which shirt do you want? That blue one and green one look best. Red’s not really your color”  
“I’ll take the blue and the green”  
“Good. We gotta get you more clothes tomorrow but this is a good start” Gabriel handed Castiel the credit card he swiped from Dean. “Here, you’ll need this” Gabriel waited for Castiel to pay for the shirts and jeans and for Castiel to change into what he bought. “Do you feel more comfortable now?”  
“These are nice, I like them a lot”  
As they were walking Gabriel stopped in front of a small café. “Hey, let’s go in here. I’m kinda hungry, I could go for a bagel and a snack. How about you?”  
“Yeah, I could eat”  
Gabriel and Castiel walked in. “So, what do you want? A coffee and something to eat? Have you ever had coffee before?”  
“No, I’ve seen a lot of people drink it and Crowley would from time to time, but I was never allowed”  
“Well, you’re having coffee today and what do you want to eat?”  
“A muffin”  
“Alright. You get us a table and I’ll be right back”  
Castiel went and got them a table close to the window because he liked to look out the window. Gabriel came back a while later with their food. He had gotten himself a coffee, bagel, and brownie as well as Castiel’s coffee and muffin.  
“What does coffee taste like?”  
“Bitter, but in a nice way, also it’s full of caffeine! Drink it”  
“Okay” Castiel said, drinking the coffee. It was hot and bitter, but “I like it”  
“I knew you would” Gabriel smiled. “You’re going to get everything that Crowley has denied you”  
They finished their lunch Gabriel getting Castiel an extra coffee in a to-go cup, Castiel now on the verge of addicted. They went to explore what else the town had to offer. They walked into the different stores and continued to shop, buying books, more clothes, anything they saw and wanted basically. Castiel had been a little nervous about spending the day alone with Gabriel since it had been so long since they had seen each other and spent time together but he had really enjoyed today.

When it started to get dark and the streets were clearing out they decide to head back to the bunker but on the way, someone stopped them of the street. “Hey, give me your money”  
“What?” Castiel asked.  
The guy spoke slower. “Give. Me. All. Your. Money.”  
Gabriel looked down and saw the guy was brandishing a switchblade. This is was mugging.  
“Easy” Gabriel said. “We don’t have any money, just a credit card”  
“Bullshit!”  
“It’s true” Gabriel pulled out the credit card as if him seeing it would be more believable, because the mugger sure didn’t want the credit card, too easy to cancel and track, he wanted cash.  
“Then give me the gold around your neck” Gabriel thought he'd ask for the bags (which Gabriel would have handed over just to get this guy and his blade away from himself and his brother) and was surprised when he didn’t, obviously the mugger didn’t do this often. Gabriel hands went up to the collar. “No” Gabriel’s collar looked like a gold choker to most people at first glance but it wasn’t and had no actual value, just sentimental value since it was gift from Kali, she gave to it to Gabriel so he could go out as a cat without getting picked up by someone who thought he was a stray. It was a big step for both witch and familiar. After Kali died, he never took it off and he certainly wasn’t going to give it to some lowlife mugger who only saw dollar signs around Gabriel neck.  
“Gabriel-” Castiel was cut off when he felt a pain in his stomach. The mugger panicked and dropped the bloody knife on the sidewalk, immediately running away. Castiel, in pain dropped his bags and did the only thing he knew to do when he was hurt. He transformed into his crow form and flew as quickly as he could to his witch. Gabriel tried to follow him but couldn’t see him in the dark black sky. “Cas! CASTIEL, WAIT!” But it was too late, Castiel was lost to him again, over a stupid collar. “Dammit!”


	9. Chapter 9

Castiel woke up and looked around the room in a daze. In seconds, all the memories came flooding back, shopping with Gabriel, getting stabbed, panicking and flying to his witch, and finally passing out on the floor of his room. “Hey there little familiar, you’re awake” Crowley said softly, petting his head “how are you?”  
“Hurt”  
“Are you feeling better?”  
“A little”  
“Good. I had to leave the wound so as not to tip off the hunters, but I stitched it up and stopped the bleeding”  
“Gabriel’s going to be looking for me”  
“That’s why you have to go back to the bunker”  
“I don’t want to get up, it really hurts”  
“You don’t want them to find me, do you?”  
“No”  
“Well then you have to go back. Your brother is persistent and if he finds me, those hunters will kill me again”  
Castiel groaned as he sat up. “Yes, sir”  
“Good boy, Castiel” Crowley said, giving him a kiss “this will all be worth it in the end, I promise you”  
“I know”

Castiel returned to the bunker. It took some time for him to leave and even more time to make it back to the bunker, by this time Gabriel along with the two Winchesters had searched the entire town including all hospitals, clinics, and even vets since Castiel was last seen in his crow form. They came up empty and returned to the bunker. Gabriel started to suggest ideas such as making a missing persons report, however, that maybe hard given the fact Castiel isn’t a person. Then he heard the knock on the bunker door. It was Castiel on the other side of the door, he looked disheveled and winced in pain with every movement.  
“Cas, where did you go?” Gabriel asked, taking his brothers arm, letting Castiel lean some of his weight on him.  
Castiel was silent for a moment then spoke. “I always used to run to Crowley when something bad happened, my instincts kicked in before my brain. After that I don’t know exactly what happened, I blacked out and woke up in someone’s house with stitches in my stomach. I ran out of there and came back here as fast as I could.” Castiel told his brother, it wasn’t the best lie, but it was better than the truth and he knew Gabriel wasn’t going to questions him much, Gabriel would just be happy that his brother was back, and his wound was stitched up.  
“I’m sorry you got hurt. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I’m sorry” Gabriel was very apologetic as he helped his brother into the bunker and down the stairs.  
“It’s not your fault, today was the best day I’ve had in a long time, Gabriel”

Gabriel walked his brother all the way to his room and to his bed. Well, Sam did, after seeing his familiar struggling under his older brother’s weight, Sam stepped in. Castiel was not doing well, he was clutching his stomach the pain. The hunters gave him whatever meds they had but Advil couldn’t help with this nor could Sam’s spells as he wasn’t powerful enough, yet, the most he could do was cure a head ache or muscle cramp.

It took about 10 days for Castiel’s wound to heal and longer for pain to stop radiating out of the sowed laceration. Every day following the initial 10 Castiel got up more, walking around without help and living with the pain. It didn’t take long before he tried to leave the bunker, the first time since the incident. Only Dean caught him as he was leaving. Dean wanted to get out of the bunker and away from Gabriel and Sam. Since Gabriel was worried about his brother while he brother was in pain he had neglected his witch and his familiar duties (which Sam understood) but now that Castiel was mobile and able to care for himself, Sam and Gabriel had to make up for the lost week and a half.  
“Cas?” Dean asked, noticing the man hightailing it to the door. “Hey slow down there, where are you going?” Dean asked gently, jogging up to him.  
“Coffee!” Castiel replied too fast, it was the first thing he could think off, the bitter caffeinated beverage became something he yearned for now. He really was becoming addicted.  
“I’ll go with you” Dean said. “It’ll be easier to get there if I drive us and I need to get out of the bunker.”

Castiel and Dean has some lunch, including coffee, at the coffee shop Gabriel and Castiel had stopped when they had gone shopping in the town. They ate, talked, and relaxed. It was nice. That was until, Castiel, who was sitting alone observing life outside the coffee shop window while Dean got himself some more coffee, made eye contact with a man on the outside looking in.  
_Crowley, what are you doing here?_ Castiel asked through their telepathic link.  
_You look well, Castiel. Walk with me. ___  
_Dean will notice I’m missing._  
_This is more important than Dean._  
Castiel cast a glance over at Dean to make sure he wasn’t looking before he quickly left the shop.  
“I thought you would return to me when you felt better”  
“I tried to, but Dean caught me before I could”  
“These boys seem to be more trouble than they're worth”  
“They’re not”  
“Hunters are trouble, my crow”  
“Not them.”  
“Do you _like_ these hunters, Cas?”  
Castiel hesitated for a second but a second was long enough and Castiel couldn’t answer before Crowley said “We’re going home right now” Crowley took Castiel back to the hotel room. “I don’t like what you’ve become, Castiel”  
“What is that?” Castiel asked.  
“You are friends with the Winchesters, defending them, drinking coffee with them! They are the enemy, Castiel, and you won’t be able to kill them if you like them!”  
“How about I just kill you instead?”


	10. The End

Castiel shot Crowley. He knew where the Winchesters kept their weapons and ammo, they even had witch killing bullets. No resurrections this time. Castiel felt the same pain he felt the first time Crowley died. Crowley crumped to the floor and Castiel fell to the ground next to him, sobbing. This was something a familiar should never do to their witch, you should be faithful to the bitter end. . . so maybe this should be his end.  
Before he could do anything, however, Dean was in the apartment. And fuck, Gabriel. Of course, it was Gabriel. The one living being who would never let Castiel kill himself, even if it meant dying with his witch, ran over to Castiel and wrapped his arm around his crying brother.  
“I killed him!” Castiel whispered. “I killed him just let me die with my witch!”  
“Not going to happen” Gabriel replied.  
“I betrayed you. I knew he was alive, and I helped him! I helped him kill more people, I helped him cover up the things we did, I’m just as bad as he is! I’m not good, Gabriel!”  
“Cas-”  
Gabriel cut off by Dean who walked forward. “You were living in the bunker with us and working with Crowley!“  
Gabriel stood, put himself between Castiel, who was also getting up, and Dean. “Back up, Dean!” He was in the middle of talking his brother of a cliff and here Dean was his ready to give him the little shove he needed. “Get out of here!”  
“He was living under my roof while working with the enemy”  
Castiel was making no move to defend himself, perhaps he didn’t think he deserved a defense, that didn’t stop Gabriel. “A familiar and witch relationship isn’t that simple. It wasn’t like Castiel was ever going hurt us, he could never”  
Dean wasn’t listening to Gabriel, he was too mad, he was betrayed, last time something like this happened the demon ended up dead (the demon in question: Ruby). Dean shoved Gabriel to the side and swung at Castiel. Castiel hit the ground and Dean stormed out.  
“You okay, Cas?” Gabriel asked, he was hit hard enough he fell to the ground and his lip was bleeding.  
“Go away. Leave me”  
“Come back home”  
“Gabe, he’s not coming back to the bunker” Sam said.  
“I’ll talk to Dean” Gabriel replied. He knew that if Sam didn’t trust Castiel, he would be able to convince him that Castiel is trustworthy, but Dean. . .

Dean was outside by the car, he was furious that Castiel had done this, he really cared for that stupid familiar and he thought they were really getting along, it crushed him to find out it was all a lie.  
“Dean!”  
Dean cursed when he heard Gabriel’s voice. That last thing he needed was that little asshole yelling at him for punching his brother, blinded, unable to see all the harm Castiel had caused with Crowley. If he never saw Gabriel again it would be too soon.  
“Gabriel just stay the fuck away from me, I don’t need this right now” Dean said angrily, he couldn’t hurt Gabriel because he knew deep down Sam wouldn’t forgive him for doing that.  
Gabriel stopped short, just close enough that they could talk because he could see how angry Dean was. “You need to let Castiel come to the bunker with us.”  
“Castiel could die for all I care.”  
“Leaving a familiar like him, in an unhealthy emotional state, alone he could end up with any witch, that can be a death sentence because some witches treat their familiars horribly.” Gabriel replied. “Castiel doesn’t deserve that, do you realize what he did for us?”  
“He _betrayed _us, Gabriel. I understand he’s your brother but open your eyes! He’s been spying on us and reporting back to Crowley for who knows how long! He fucked us, all three of us, and I refuse to give him the chance to do it again”__  
“Killing Crowley is not something to take lightly. Let me give you a history lesson”  
“I don’t want hear it” Dean said.  
Gabriel continued on. “Familiars killing witches used to be a capital offense punishable by death in Coven law, but it was removed because it _never _happened.” Gabriel stepped towards Dean, “Crowley was far from perfect but Castiel loved him and he _shot _him. Castiel killed a part of himself, a part of his heart and soul, _for us _, Dean!”______  
Dean clenched his teeth as he looked Gabriel in the eye. “. . . Tell Sammy to come down here and drive me home. You guys can bring him to the bunker, but I don’t want to see him”  
Gabriel nodded. He went back upstairs, told Sam to go downstairs, and walked over to Castiel. “Come on, we’re going home”  
“What are you talking about? I don’t have a home” Castiel said.  
“You’re coming back to the bunker, Castiel.”  
Castiel didn’t bother to debate this, he knew he was going to lose. 

________When they got back to the bunker after a long, quiet walk Gabriel left Castiel alone and instead went to Sam. Castiel needed time alone in his room. Gabriel needed his witch. Dean needed space and fresh air. For the first time, everyone was getting what they needed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
